Georgia's judicial watchdog agency issued a directive Friday chiding state Court of Appeals candidates against making partisan comments or seeking endorsements that might conflict with a judge's nonpartisan duties.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission said it issued the warning because it was made aware of recent statements involving a judicial candidate implying that another candidate “is so affiliated with a particular political party that voters should consider the candidate to be running as a candidate of that party or endorse that party.”

While the commission news release did not identify the race or candidate, JQC executive director Ben Easterlin confirmed it was in response to the race between Ken Shigley and Ken Hodges.

On Tuesday, Shigley issued a news release promoting endorsements from Republicans, and portrayed Hodges as “a lifelong Democrat.”

Shigley's release—distributed by political consultant Brian Robinson, a former spokesman and adviser to Republican Gov. Nathan Deal—included praise from Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives. It also included a statement from Georgia GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart, who said voters deserved to know that Hodges—who has garnered bipartisan support in the current race—had previously run for office as a Democrat. Hodges was elected three times as Dougherty County's district attorney on the Democratic ticket. He ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state attorney general in 2010.

In Robinson's release, Shigley also promised to uphold “conservative values.”

Judicial races in Georgia are nonpartisan, and candidates for judicial posts as well as judges are governed by the state Canon of Judicial Ethics.

“As a candidate is governed by the same canons and rules as a sitting judge, the commission cautions any judicial candidate against making comments or seeking endorsements which may conflict with the nonpartisan duties required of a statewide judge in the state of Georgia,” the JQC statement said.

On Friday, Hodges said, “I think it's appropriate for the JQC to weigh in. It's alarming that a candidate would not take the canons more seriously.”

“My opponent,” he added, “is desperately bringing his political agenda to the bench, the one place politics simply don't belong.”

Shigley was unaware of the JQC statement until the Daily Report read it to him while he was traveling. Shigley said he began his campaign “in an entirely nonpartisan manner.” But when he appeared at campaign forums with Hodges, Shigley said, Hodges would list a slate of Republicans who endorsed his candidacy.

“It made him sound like a lifelong Republican,” Shigley said. ”I just pointed out he was a Democratic candidate for attorney general.”

Shigley said that Hodges' Republican endorsements prompted his campaign manager to tell him, “We have to punch back with some endorsements of our own. And we got a couple of them.”

Shigley said that he would review Robinson's news release and his supporters' statements “and see if some revision might be appropriate.”

Shigley said Robinson's release was forwarded to him. “I did not sit down and analyze it,” he added.

Asked if he approved the release, he said, “I didn't disapprove it.” But, he added, “Maybe I should have read it a little more closely. At first glance, it was basically announcing we had a couple of endorsements by folks comparable to those Hodges had put out.”

Easterlin described the commission statement as “cautionary.” He said it did not stem from any official complaint, and should be considered proactive on the agency's part. Easterlin said the Daily Report's story on Shigley's release is what brought the matter to its attention.”

Nonpartisan judicial elections are a reflection of a judge's role as a neutral party who won't pursue an agenda associated with a political party, and who will make rulings “consistent with the law and the evidence,” Easterlin added.

“A judicial candidate that points to a partisan association is effectively accusing the other judicial candidate of bias,” Easterlin said. “Likewise, a judicial candidate who clothes himself or herself in the tenets of partisanship is promoting an election based on a partisan agenda.”

Hodges and Shigley are running for an opening created by the departure of Judge John Ellington, who is running unopposed for the Georgia Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Carol Hunstein.

The judicial elections will be held May 22 but early voting is available in certain locations.

Read the JQC Memo below: